Books for mum and dad

This Christmas, Geoffrey and Gail will arrive at his parents'with one extra child in tow - baby Edward - and Gail's still getting used to not having to wear voluminous maternity clothes.

Come the New Year she'll be going back to work as a vet, but while nursing Ed, she's found time to catch up on some reading, and has been trying to get her two elder children, Tom and Rebecca, as interested in books as she was at their age.

Gail, 34, usually prefers fiction, but her husband Geoffrey is a bit of a history buff and is always trying to persuade her to pick up some non-fiction once in a while.

Geoffrey, 42, is an architect, and has just been made a partner at the small firm where he works, so this has been a doubly hectic year for him.

Though he doesn't share his sister Enid's green fingers, he's already decided his New Year's resolution (like the year before!) will be to try to make something of the jungle outside their back door, which should make a pleasant change from working with buildings.

Gail's books

What Not To Wear by Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99) With three children under the age of 12 and a busy veterinary practice to run, Gail doesn't have a lot of time to spend on her appearance so she'll welcome this style bible with its chapters themed by body shape ('flabby tummy, short legs') and golden rules on what - and more importantly what not - to wear.

The Child That Books Built by Francis Spufford (Faber, £12.99) All Avid childhood readers will identify with Spufford as he revisits the books he devoured as a child and examines the vital role they played in helping him understand - and escape from - the world around him. No bibliophile will be immune to the charms of this delightful work.

White Mughals by William Dalrymple (Harper Collins, £20) Dazzling account of an 18thcentury love affair between English merchant and a Hyderabadi princess which breached all the conventions of the day. Dalrymple shines a bright light on a dark corner of Indian history and does much to explain the complex legacy of the British in India.

The Little Friend (Bloomsbury, £16.99) We've waited a long time for the follow-up to Donna Tartt's wonderful Secret History and ten years on she's produced another dazzling tour de force. In her new novel, young Harriet is so haunted by the murder of her brother in the American deep South she is compelled to track down his murderer and take her revenge.

Pandora by Jilly Cooper (Bantam, £10.99) For Gail and anyone else who has yet to catch up with Pandora, there's a spanking new paperback perfect for slipping into stockings. Cooper's art world romp is perfect fare for Christmas mums while, hopefully, the men wash up.